Should a Virtual Assistant Recommend a Freelance Site?

There are two main reasons I would recommend a freelance site to my clients. Before I get into that though, let me talk a little bit about what a freelance site is and what some of the better ones out there are.

According to Wikipedia, a freelancer is a self-employed person like an independent contractor who follows after a profession without establishing a long-term commitment to any one employer. Now you might say, what the heck does that mean. In simple terms, it means that a virtual assistant (or writer, or graphic designer, etc.) goes into business for him- or herself.

There are many areas in which a person can set themselves up in business as a freelancer — areas like website development and programming, administrative services, writing and translation, sales and marketing, and multiple other categories. Within each of these categories, there might be specific niches that you can establish your business in, depending on your skills and determination.

Okay, so that’s all well and good, right? How does a freelancer find a buyer, or how does a buyer find a service provider? If a person does a search through their favorite Internet search engine under the term “freelance marketplace,” one will find a wide variety of freelance marketplaces out there where freelancers and buyers can meet, get to know each other, and work together. There are several good ones out there like Guru.com, Elance Tour, iFreelance.com, and more, depending on what you are specializing in.

So let’s go back to my original premise as to why a virtual assistant should recommend a freelance site to one of their clients. In my case, there are two categories that I would want to do this:

1. There are clients of mine that may have a service that is not currently in my reportoire of skills. For example, I offer virtual assistance services – things like data entry, customer service, transcription, article writing, article submission, things of that nature. I don’t do graphics, I don’t do  photography or videography, I don’t do anything having to do with legal matters — you get the picture, right? In other words, if one of my clients needs me to come up with a logo, for example, I’m going to recommend that they go to a freelance site like Logo Design Elance where they can go to find a service provider that does that type of thing.
2. There are new prospective virtual assistants out there that need to acquire clientele and may want to test the waters to see if becoming a freelancer is going to appeal to their sense of adventure and be a good fit. When my partner and I first started out, we were compelled to go into freelancing because I had been laid off and she had retired. We needed a way to supplement our income. Not everyone is going to take to freelancing. Becoming a member of a freelance site can be an excellent way to be introduced to it, build skills, and gain feedback.

With the economy being what it is right now and so many people being out of work, a virtual assistant has to do everything they can to keep the clients they have. This is a good time to recommend freelance marketplaces to clients and individuals that want to get into freelancing. That is why I think it only makes sense that a virtual assistant not only can but should recommend freelance sites to anyone that listens — but especially to clients looking for something to be done that I can’t do or to new people wanting to get into the field of freelancing.